Archive for iPad

iPad 2s may be in short suppky right now, but despite this, some training material for Toys ‘R’ Us staff has revealed that the toy store could offer the device. Why not? Get kids thinking about Apple early from childhood and they will grow up to spend their money on Apple products.

The question on the training material reads: “The iPad 2 features a what size LED screen?” Together with the branded product sheet, these photographs seem to show that a Toys ‘R’ Us launch of the device could be happening soon.

According to Digitimes, the iPad 2 supply may be strained due to cover lenses needed for the touch panel modules. Apple has sold between 2.4 to 2.5 million iPad 2s in March alone, and obviously they want to keep on selling as many as possible so this could really mess things up.

That is, unless manufacturers ramp up their production of the necessary lens component. TPK Touch Solutions and G-Tech Optoelectronics are trying to produce more cover lenses for the iPad 2, along with competing devices. Apple’s sales may be in their hands. Hopefully they can get more lenses produced.

We knew this day would come eventually and here it is. The iPad 2 can help you see through clothes. Jason Bradbury accomplishes this using a pair of cheap night vision goggles, cling wrap, and an iPad 2′s camera. The man is obviously a genius.

He then takes a photo of himself through his clothes. And it works. Crave gives this as an explanation: “The idea is based on an inadvertent side effect that some camcorders with low-light functions experienced about a decade ago. The cameras worked by emitting infrared light via special LEDs. The camera, when in “night vision” mode, would then record video in infrared instead of visible light. Some cameras, though, generated an “X-ray effect,” allowing the viewer to see through the clothes of the person being videotaped.”

Want to spruce up your now outdated old iPad? The best way to do that is to upgrade to the iPad 2, but if you don’t want to do that, then here’s a way to give it an external makeover. The Wasabi collection features five ukiyo-e (woodblock print) designs by the famous 19th century Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai.

My only concern with these is that they seem like they would be heavy. They’re made from African mahogany and will cost you $272 each. Yikes. Heavy and expensive. But they are pretty.

Thanks to an internal corporate memo, we know that Apple is planning a deal with Radio Shack. About 500 stores US-wide are due to start carrying the iPad 2 on Tuesday, March 29. This is apparently a last-minute plan that had only been agreed upon in the “last few days.”

The company had a much wider launch with the iPad 2 than it had previously. Usually Apple waits until supply shortages have settled down or until it gets closer to the holidays, when the expansion can have a maximum effect. The more aggressive launch is likely due to battling Android tablets like the Motorola Xoom.

When Apple unveiled the iPad 2, they also advertised a new video converter that was designed to mirror whatever is displayed on the tablet’s screen to an external HDMI display by upscaling content to full HD 1080p resolution. This one plays nice with any third-party app and when it comes to games, the $39 Apple Digital AV Adapter upscales graphics from the iPad’s native 1024 by 768 pixel resolution to full HD 1920 by 1080 resolution.

That means you won’t have those annoying black bars on your screen. Don’t you hate those? The PowerVR SGX543MP2, the GPU unit of the A5 chip can drive full 1080p 3D graphics. TouchArchade says that the next update to Firemint’s Real Racing 2 HD will enable full 1080p video output in 30 frames per second. That’s without upscaling.

Good news for those in the UK, looking forward to the iPad 2. Apple has added the iPad 2 to its UK Apple store, as shown in photo below, with a convenient button that lets you “select an iPad”. Sadly it doesn’t seem like you can actually buy that selected iPad 2 just yet though, but it is expected to go on sale on Apple’s online store at 1AM in the morning tomorrow. Those in the UK can also buy one from Apple stores starting 5PM tomorrow on March 25th.

The iPad 2 for the UK starts at £399 for the 16GB WiFi model, £479 for the 32GB WiFi model and £559 for the 64GB model. The 3G and WiFi iPad 2 start at £499 for the 16GB model, £579 for the 32GB model and £659 fpr the 64GB WiFi and 3G model.

Everybody wants an iPad 2. You know who doesn’t have one yet? Lots of folks in other countries. But on Friday, March 25th, Apple will start selling its latest tablet in 25 other nations.

After all, you wouldn’t just want to sell your tablet in the US would you? No way. You want it to sell around the globe. Those in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea will have to wait until April. Sorry guys. Virtually everyone else will have it on Friday.

Canadian Best Buy stores will not be missing out on selling the iPad 2. In fact they will start selling them on March 25th, according to one store worker who quoted a manager on the matter. You can apparently expect them to be available at 10am friday when stores open on a first come first served basis and obviously you can expect long lines.

It might be more difficult to get an iPad 2 in Canada at launch though, due to the small number of Apple Stores around cities like Montreal and Toronto. There’s also the fact that Apple has also traditionally made the US a priority, diverting the bulk of inventory to the US. Despite these things, hopefully most Canadians who want one can get one without too much trouble at launch.

Behold, the iPad2 Gold History edition. Asin, your money is history. It was as usual, designed and crafted by Stuart Hughes in Liverpool UK. It is encrusted with 16.5 cts of ‘I’F’ flawless diamonds, 53 individually set sparkling gems, a solid 24ct Apple logo and the rear section produced again in 24ct gold.

It weighs 2,000 grams and the front frame of this iPad is made from one of the oldest rocks in the world, the Ammolite, sourced from Canada and dating over 75 million years old. That’s not all, sections of a 65 million year old T-Rex dinosaur’s thigh bone has been splintered and then shaved into the Ammolite and finished off with a single cut 8.5ct flawless diamond inlaid in platinum and surrounded by 12 outer flawless diamonds.

The ZAGGmate iPad 2 Case is the perfect companion for your new iPad 2. Like others that we’ve seen it basically turns your tablet into a netbook. The ZAGGmate offers your iPad 2 durable protection, some added functionality and it still has style.

The ZAGGmate iPad 2 Case is crafted from aircraft aluminum and features a bead-blasted, anodized finish matching the design of your iPad 2. A hinge provides viewing and typing angles in portrait and landscape mode. The ZAGG ZAGGmate retails for $99.99.

iPad users that subscribe to Time Warner’s cable TV service have some good news today. Time Warner cable has just released the Time Warner Cable TV app for the iPad. That means that iPad users can now watch programs and movies from the cable service anywhere in their home as long as they have a WiFi connection.

Shows will be broadcast in HD, so you can enjoy Discovery, MSNBC, SyFy and other content in great quality even though you aren’t watching on the big screen. Right now, the app only works over WiFi and only 30 channels are available for live streaming, but that’s not a bad start. You must be Time Warner Cable subscriber with an iPad tablet running iOS 4.2 and higher. Future versions of the app might even include streaming without using WiFi, and the ability to set up a DVR to record shows.

The latest version of the iPad, the iPad 2 only went on sale on Friday in the US, and @comex has already managed to Jailbreak the new device, though we don’t have any details on just when the jailbreak will be made available to everyone. That didn’t take long at all. The jailbroken device was a Verizon Wireless model, but the 3G versions should also be able to be jailbroken just as easily.

Interestingly, this iPad 2 was jailbroken remotely, the iPad 2 used belonged to @chpwn. It shouldn’t be long now until the jailbreak for the new iPad 2 is available to everyone. When we know more, we will let you know.

If a gadget is new, the folks at iFixit will tear it down. It’s as certain as death and taxes. Now it’s time for the iPad 2′s turn. Apple’s latest iOS device was laid out and surgery commenced. The tear down helped them discover that the tablet carries a slightly larger battery than the previous model.

They also learned that the hard to remove front display panel was tricky, but aside from that, the device was pretty easy to take apart. If you need to know how to take yours apart, you can head over to iFixit to find out how. Just make sure you can actually do it first, so you don’t kill the device.

In Central New York state, Anthony Carretero spotted the iPad 2 on store shelves already. One Walmart in the area had at least the 32GB and 64GB models in their display cabinets ahead of the 5PM Friday launch. Carretero didn’t try to buy the iPad though, but apparently one person who tried couldn’t get it to process in the checkout system.

This kind of thing is common in technology sales, whether due to inexperienced staff or any number of things, but it doesn’t often happen with Apple products. Anyway, for now you can look, but you can’t buy one until tomorrow.